Shoe sewing machine



3 7, 1953 F. ASHWORTH 2,644,412

SHOE SEWING MACHINE Filed Jan. 7, 1950 2, Sheets-Sheet 1 mania?" FP0 lam oer July 7, 1953 F. ASHWORTH 2,644,412

SHOE SEWING MACHINE 7 Filed Jan. 7, 1950 4 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 III V Z2 :5 I g FRfD/smvamw Patented July 7, 1953 SHOE SEWING MACHINE Fred Ashworth, Wenham, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. 3., a corporation of New Jersey- Application January 7, 1950, Serial No. 137,343

9 Claims.

The present invention relates to shoe outsole sewing machines andmore particularly to improvements in work supports for machines of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,271,611, granted February 3, 1942, upon application of the present inventor and Carl F. Whitaker for sewing outsoles to welts of Goodyear welt shoes with even edged seams having lengths of thread exposed on the surface of the welt arranged in a desirable accurately alined relationship.

The machine of the patent above referred to is a lock-stitch welt shoe sole sewing machine in which the work is fed while clamped and the stitch forming devices of which are so arranged that thread lengths exposed on the welt in succeeding stitches frequently are disposed out of line with each other or in zigzag relationship.

With the exposed thread lengths of a seam disr posed in zigzag relationship, the appearance produced does not always conform with other ele-' ments of style and design in a particular type of shoe being manufactured. For this reason it is preferable to insert stitches with the exposed I thread lengths arranged in a narrow continuous straight line formation.

The principalobject of the present invention is to provide a clamp feed shoe outsole sewing machine in which the desired results of seam formation may be obtained without affecting detrimentally any of the essential characteristics of the seam, or requiring complicated and difficult adjustments to be made by the operator. Other objects are to improvethe work support of a shoe outsole sewing machine in a manner toinsure insertion of a seam with the thread lengths exposed on at least one side of the work in accurate alinement from one stitch to another.

In sewing the outseam of a Goodyear welt shoe, the shoe is presented to the sewing machine in an upside-down position with the welt engaging the work support. A machine of the type disclosed in" the patenthas a hook needle and the thread is laid in the needle hook by cooperative action of a looper and a thread finger. During the retracting stroke of the threaded needle a length of thread engaged by the thread finger is released and is drawn'toward the welt. After being released by the thread finger, slack thread exists between the last formed stitch in the work and the stitch being formed. Accordingly, there is no accurate control of its movement laterally of the seam line while being drawn against the welt. Without lateral control of the thread movement there is corresponding lack of uni- 2 form thread placement and appearance in the finished seam.

In accordance with the present invention a hook needle clamp feed outsole sewing machine is provided in which the work feeding work support has a needle receiving opening formed with I a restriction of a-width sufiicient'to receive the thread but insufficient to admit the needle, at

that end toward which the work is fed to limit movement laterally of the seam line of slack thread released by the thread finger and drawn through the work by the needle.

- the movement of the thread laterally of the seam line, accurate placement of the thread is insured and the thread lengths exposedon the surface of the welt when sewing an outsole are readily maintained in alinement with great uniformity. Preferably, the restriction in the needle opening of the work support constitutes a continuation of the forward surface of the needle opening and the rearward surface of the restriction is spaced from the rearward surface of the needle opening.

In this way, greater clearances are obtainable.

between the outer edge of the work support and the bulging surface of a shoe upper being sewn and a still more effective result in alinement is obtained.

These and other features of the invention as hereinafter described and claimed will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detail specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is a detail plan view of the work clamping and feeding work support and its actuating tion together with a portion of a welt shoe being sewn, showing the relationship of slack needle thread as it is drawn against the welt Fig. 3is asectional view taken along the line IIII1I of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a further sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is .a detail view of the work engaging surface portion of the work support;

Fig. 6 is a view in left side elevation of the work support portion shown in Fig. 5; Fig.7 is a plan view of the work engaging portion of a work support according to the present invention, in a somewhat modified form;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the work support portion shown in Fig. 6 taken along the line VIIIVIII;

By limiting finger l8 and drawn toward the welt by the retractingneedle is prevented or extremely limited and the position to which the measured thread lengths are drawn laterally ofthe seam line against the work is well defined in accurate each slack measured length of thread is being drawn against the welt it is confined both forwardly and rearwardly as well as at the ends of the restriction. In many instances such restriction is sufiicient by itself to insure accurate alinement of thread lengths exposed on the welt of a shoe. For further characteristics of refinement in style and uniform appearance, other modifications in the shape of the work support may be found desirable.

It is frequently of advantage to accentuate the straight line appearance of the outseam in a welt shoe by reducing still further the width of the alined thread lengths from that found with the use of the restriction 62 only; Accordingly,

action of the shoulder 64 is enhanced by the forward thrust of the work support during its relative back feeding movement. This molding action on the thread lengths reduces the width of the seam and causes it to become more prominent in height. I

If a still further reduction is desired in seam opening, indicated at 12.

1 6 such action is to give the seam a more nearly rectangular appearance in cross section.

Where a seam is to be sewn on a welt as close as possible to the bulging last supported surface of a shoe upper 54 within the crease between the upper and the welt, it is sometimes necessary to form the restriction in the needle opening with its forward inner surface as a continuation of the forward inner surface of the needle opening. A work support having such restriction, indicated at 1B, is shown in Fig. '7, where the forward surface of the restriction is con,

tinuous with the forward surface of the needle Under these condi=- tions there is little material left between the forward inner surface of the needle opening and the forward outer surface of the work support. For this reason, the forward seam alining shoulder is omitted and a rounded rear shoulder M is provided extending somewhat forwardly of the rearward surface of the restriction, which rearward surface is spaced from the rearwar surface of the needle opening 12.

The shapes of the thread lengths emerging from the work support of the machine thus described are dependent upon the proportions of the restriction, shoulders and flattening surfaces formed thereon. For different styles of shoes, modifica width, a second shoulder 66 is provided opposite the shoulder 64 with the result that a groove running from the needle opening is formed along the work engaging surface of the work support within which both side edges of the exposed thread lengths are molded toward each other. The groove 64-66 ordinarily is made with slightly narrower width than the restriction 62 but with afiaring outlet in the direction of work feed to avoid retarding the feeding movements of a shoe while sewing around abrupt curvatures, particularly about pointed toes of shoes. The shoulders 64 and E6 ordinarily merge into the upper edges of the restriction 62 without abrupt changes in dimensions, the reduction in width being made gradually and the flare at the outlet taking place smoothly so as not to produce noticeable marking on the exposed thread lengths in a seam.

To avoid, an excessively high upstanding appearance in the thread lengths, the left-hand end of the work engaging surface 48 on the work support is reduced to a lower seam flattening level at 68, and the groove formed by the seam 'alining shoulders is terminated at the reduced tions in lengths of these surfaces and seam guiding elements may be made to insure the desired results, the action of each respective elementbe ing relied upon to add its own distinctive effect. Where no forward shoulder, such as illustrated at til in Fig. 5 is employed, it is obvious that greater pressure will be exerted on the welt nearer the outer edge of the welt on a shoe than at the rear of the seam line nearest the upper and, accordingly, the outer edge will be compressed to a greater extent than that surface inside the seam line. Such formation of the welt frequently is of advantage where: cross markings later are provided on th seam in the form of indentations to give the seam a well-known pricked up appearance, the uncompressed inner surfaceof the welt receiving the markings more readily than the outer compressed surface.

. Having described the invention what is claimed 1S1 l. A shoe outsole sewing machine having a curved'hook needle, work clamping and feeding means including a presser foot at the side of the work with the needle, in combination with a work support having a needle receiving opening formed with a restriction at that end toward which thework is fed to limit the movement of the thread drawn through the work by the needle laterally of the seam line, said restriction being of insufficient width to admit the needle.

2. A shoe outsole sewing machine having a curved hock needle, work clamping and feeding means including a presser foot at the side of the work with the needle, in combination with a work support having a needle receiving opening formed with a restriction at that end toward which the work is fed to limit the movement of the thread drawn through the work by the needle laterally of the seam line, and a seam alining shoulder along the work engaging surface of the work support for molding a side edge of the seam.

3. A shoe outsole sewing machine having a curved hook needle, work clamping and feeding means including a presser foot at the side of the work with the needle, in combination with a work supporthaving a needle receiving opening formed with a restriction at that end toward which the work is fedto limit the movement of the thread drawn through the work by the needle, laterally of the seam line, and a seam alining groove along the work engaging surface of the work support for bringing both side edges of the exposed thread lengths in successive stitches into alinement with each other.

4. A shoe outsole sewing machine having a curvedhook needle, work clamping and feeding means including a carriage, a shaft on which the carriage is mounted for oscillation along the line of work feed, a work feeding support, a work clamping presser foot on the carriage and mechanism for actuating the work support and presser foot at right angles to the line of feed to cause them to exert a relatively slow rearward pull on the work during feeding movements and a relatively quick forward thrust against the work dur, ing back feeding movements, in combination with a seam alining shoulder on the work engaging surface of the work support for molding the outer edge of the seam during the forward thrust of the work support.

5. A shoe outsole sewing machine having a curved hook needle, work clamping and feeding means including a carriage, a shaft on which the carriage is mounted for oscillation along the line of work feed, a work feeding suupport having a needle receiving opening, a work clamping presser foot on the carriage and mechanism for actuating the work support and presser foot at right angles to the line of feed to cause them to exert a relatively slow rearward pull on the work during feeding movements and a relatively quick for-ward thrust against the work during back feeding movements, in combination with a restriction in the needle receiving opening of the work support at that end toward which the work is fed to limit the movement of the thread drawn through the work by the needle laterally of the seam line and to form a seam alining shoulder along the work engaging surface of the work support for molding a side edge of the seam.

6. A work support for a shoe outsole sewing machine formed with a work engaging surface, a downwardly and rearwardly swept shank and an elongated needle receiving opening intersecting the work engaging surface and extending rea wardly of the work support, in combination with a restriction at one end of the needle opening in the work support of a width approximately equal to the thickness of the sewing thread to limit the forward and rearward movements of the thread drawn against the surface of the work engaged by the work support.

7. A shoe outsole sewing machine having a cu ed ok nee le, r c m n nd edin mean nc u a Pre er f a the id fth work with the needle, in combination with a work supp rt having a needle receiving opening formed witha restriction at that end toward which the work is fed to limit the movement of the thread drawn through the work by the needle laterally of the seam line, a seam alining shoulder along the work engaging surface of the work support at the outer side edge of the exposed thread e s n s ccess v che of a ea fo rin in h t linl m h h other, and a second seam alining shoulder along the work engaging surface of the work support oppo t fi ien i n d sho ld or old n the inner side. e e of a sea 8. A shoe outsole sewing machine having a curved-hook needle, work clamping and feeding means including a presser foot at the side of the work with the needle, in combination with a work support having a needle receiving opening formed with a restriction at that end toward which the work is fed to limit the 'rnovement of the thread drawn through the work by the needle laterally of the seam line, and a seam flattening surface on the work support for embedding the exposed thread lengths more deeply into the sub: stance of the work after being brought into aline, znent'by the restriction.

9. A shoe outsole sewing machine having a curved hook needle, work clamping and feeding means including a presser foot at the side or the work with the needle, in combination with a work support having a needle receiving opening formed with a restriction at that end toward which the work is fed to limit the movement of the thread drawn through the work by the needle laterally of the seam line, and a seam flattening surface on the Work support at a higher level than the end of the work engaging surface of the work support first engaged by the work for embedding the exposed thread lengths more deeply into the substance of the work after being brought into alinement by the restriction.

SH R H- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,685,854 McLaughlin et a1. Oct. 2, 1928 2,064,982 Krag Dec. 22, 1936 2,201,060 Terzia-n May 14, 1940 2,488,390 Fischbein Nov. 15, 1949 

